Bengals Booth Podcast: I Wanna Go Back

Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the Bengals Booth Podcast, the I Want to Go Back and Do It All over edition as we take an in depth look back at Super Bowl fifty six. I'll explain why in just a moment. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals official hr software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the

The kick is up, yeh ye.

Good coffin nows Bam, bam bam.

That is unba believable. The Cincinnati Bengals come from behind on the road. Unbelievable.

Dan, it is no fluke. It is a fact.

The Cincinnati Bengals are headed to Super Bowl fifty six.

They just redefined the word resilient.

After ending a thirty one year drought without a playoff win, the Bengals were headed to the Super Bowl for the third time in franchise history, a gratifying moment for team president Mike Brown.

I am just as pleased as it's possible to be if you're in my position. This is what you're goal is in life, and here we are. We have a chance to win the big win, and that would be great if we could pull it off. But it's an exciting time for me and for all the people here with the Bengals.

At what point did you think that this team could be a contender.

Well, Joe Burrow makes you think you can win any game that you go into, and we have amazing wide outs. We've got three guys that are just tremendous. That gives us a live offense. These days in the NFL, the goal is to score thirty points or more. That's what you need to win. You can even lose at that figure, but if you can get there with enough defense to go with it, you'll prevail. And we did Noise get there.

As Mike mentioned, in just his second season, Joe Burrow had transformed the franchise. After bouncing back from the gruesome knee injury he suffered as a rookie, Burrow led the Bengals to an AFC North title and the first road playoff wins in franchise history, and he did it with what NBC announcer Mike Tarico called embraceable cockiness. Here's another NBC announcer, Chris Collinsworth.

I wish I were as cool as he is, don't you. I Mean, every once in a while, meet somebody and you go, I've been living for sixty three years. That kid's twentever, twenty five years old, and he is one hundred times cooler than I am. Like, how do you get that way after twenty five years of your life?

You know?

And the first time I.

Saw him wearing some of those outfits and the rose colored glasses and all that, and now I'm like, I want to go buy a pair. Hum if he wins this game, I'm taking off my NBC blazer and I'm going to go down and grab that jacket and wear it off the air and say see you guys next season.

Maybe Greg Cook.

I wasn't around for that, but in its history that would mean more than what Joe Burrow means to this community.

Before traveling to LA for the game, Burrow did an interview with a quarterback who won seven Super Bowls, Tom Brady.

I think Joe's got some tools that I didn't quite have when I was his age. So super impressed by how he's kind of coming to the league and went to Cincinnati, which has been a tough place to play over the years, and you know, two years into his career after a really tough injury last year, show a lot of mental and physical toughness coming back and have

Joe want to hear those words from Tom. Your reaction is.

Well, no, I don't know.

I don't know if I can be in the conversation with this guy yet, but you know, I'm gonna work really hard to try, and I think we're off to a great start.

The Bengals stayed and practiced on the campus of UCLA the day before the game. Dave Lapham sat down in an empty hotel conference room to record his final pregame interview of the year with head coach Zach Taylor, where they discussed one of the biggest keys to the game.

Aaron Donald. The guy can be mesmerizing. I mean, your guys can just go to him and stay on him. He's one of those kind of players. How do you handle a guy like Aaron Donald? I mean, how big a game wrecker is this dude?

He's one of the best to ever do it? You know, and I know I'm only thirty eight years old. It's hard for me to say that I didn't watch all those years before, but I can promise you He's one of the best to ever do it, and so you've got to have a great point in place. Our guys are for the challenge.

The game was played on February thirteenth, twenty twenty two, at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California. I've been asked many times since what it's like to broadcast a Super Bowl, and I compare it to the first Jurassic Park movie when the actor Sam Neil is riding in the back of a jeep. When it stops, he looks left, stands up, fumbles to remove his sunglasses, and then is utterly stunned by the site of a live dinosaur. That's what broadcasting Super Bowl is like for me. You almost can't believe

Dan, This game's gonna be won and lost the trenches like they usually are. I'm gonna talk letter t today. My first tee is trenches. Give Joe Burrow time, another key, and obviously space. The Bengals are seven to zero when Joe gets sacked two times or less, eleven and two when he sacked four times or less, two and four when he sacked five times or more, Give him time, give him space.

I discuss that pregame analysis with Lap this week. The offensive line for the Bengals in that Super Bowl Jonah Williams, Clinton Spain, Trey Hopkins, Achema, Danegy and Isaiah Prince. Who is in for the injured Riley Reef? Who or what was your biggest concern going in?

Who biggest concern? Dan was the connection between the five. You know, it's like blocking your guy. Knowing your assignment and blocking your guy. That's one thing, But you need time on task to work well with the guy next to you. You know, you have to get used to the steps that he takes. How deep does he set you know, when he's climbing a linebacker? How how long does he double team? Does he want you to totally consume him before he comes off to the linebacker, or

To get it done a little bit. And that was my biggest concern.

There wasn't anybody that was right next to each other, that had played with each other for an extended period of time. I was concerned about that because we're talking about a Rams defensive front that you know, they had an all Pro edge rusher and all Pro defensive tackle, the best pass rusher inside rusher in the game, if not right there at number two. I mean, they had they had a lot a lot to deal with. They had Floyd, they had a lot of people to deal with,

As you might expect in LA, the game began with a little Hollywood flare, Ladies.

And gentlemen, it is my honor to say, finally it is time by the Superbad.

After the Rocks intro, the Bengals won the toss and elected to defer. Trey Hendrickson sacked on the ram opening drive led to a punt, and the Bengals quickly drove to the Rams forty nine yard line. The Bengals are going to go for it on fourth in a long yard at the Los Angeles forty nine. Burrow in the gun, pe Rne stays in. Joe Burrow drops back to throw

I'll tell you that's a big momentum turn right there for the Los Angeles Rams. Bengals dude get positive yards on first down, but then just stutter, sputter and stall.

So the first big play of the game came on the Bengals opening drive, fourth down and one at the Rams forty nine. The Bengals went for it. Joe Burrow threw an incomplete pass for Jamar Chase. He didn't see t Higgins who was wide open and would have had the first down. But going back to the decision in retrospect, did they get it right going forward on fourth and one at the Rams forty nine?

Boy, you can make cases both ways, you know. I mean, I by nature am old school. I know I am. I'm more conservative. You know, Joe obviously his clock was sped up all game long. There's no doubt. I mean, he didn't take a lot of sacks until the game, toward the end of the football game when you'd expect the Rams.

To turn it up, and they did. But he was getting the ball out.

He was getting the ball out very quickly, and that might have been part of the reason, you know that he didn't catch up with t over there on the backside. But to answer your question me conservatively, I probably would have punted and buried him inside the ten yard line. But I know analytics day, all the percentages are with you to go for it. But you know, the analytics aren't like Aaron von mill all these guys that you

Rams took advantage of the short field, putting together a sixth play fifty yard touchdown drive. Third out in a long two at the Cincinnati seventeen three receivers right two left, Cooper Cup one of the two receivers out to the left. Stafford back to throw. He's gonna lob it toward the end zone. Odell Beckham Junior reaches up and comes down to the ball. It's a touchdown for the Rams, as Odell Beckham Junior went up and over Mike Hilton to haul in the game's first touchdowns.

Just a great throw right there.

Stafford put the ball where Beckham Junior could make a play on it. Mike Hilton, obviously, his biggest challenge is verticcality because he's not very tall five foot nine inches. Odell Beckham Junior took advantage of that and ball put up players made. Mike Hilton never sees the football, tries to rip it out of there with the left hand butt O'Dell Beckham Junior drips it tightly to the turf.

Matthew Stafford's seventh touchdown pass of the postseason. He's only thrown one interception, now Matt Gay in to attempt the extra point.

His kick his perfect.

Rams took a seven to nothing lead on a touchdown catch by Odell Beckham Junior. He said this year that he would have had fifteen catches and maybe two hundred and fifty yards if he didn't tear his ACL in the second quarter.

Was he right?

Would the Bengals have been in trouble if Obj did not get hurt?

Well, I'll tell you he got off to a great start. And they were using them different ways.

You know.

They were lining them up in different spots, they were emotion them, they were doing everything that they could possibly do to make it tough, you know, for the.

For the Luanna rum or to get a handle on how to take them out of it, you know.

I mean, it wasn't like he was just lining up in one spot and Luke could you know, roll double coverage over that way or whatever. They had a good game plan. I'm not sure he to have the numbers he's talking about it. I mean, those are those are ludicrous, obviously, but I mean he was playing his tailoff man.

He was he was getting it done.

I think they would have had difficulty, you know, handling obj the way, the way he got started in that football game, There's no question.

The Bengals immediately answered Burrow back.

To throw, wants to float it high and deep four Chase is it?

The twenty reaches out comes down to the ball at the eleven yard line, a spectacular finger tip catch by Numero who know, and the Bengals will have it at the eleven After a forty six yard bomb from Burrow to Chase.

It gave the Bengals the ball at the eleven yard line, but Burrow through three straight in completions on the last one a penalty could have been called on la third down and ten at the Rams eleven shotgun snap, Burrow with a three step drop, fires a fastball over the middle and it is incomplete intended for t Higgins right at the goal line.

Ramsey in coverage again, and then we saw Ramsey in coverage against Jamar Chase. That time they had him inside working against t Higgins.

He got away with a jersey grab that wasn't called stretched cloth normally get penalized for that.

It's jan the Rams.

The Bengals settled for a twenty nine yard field goal try shooter McPherson swings the right leg a hi spinning end over end kicked. It is good and the Bengals are on the scoreboard. Late in the first quarter, Jalen Ramsey got away with grabbing t Higgins Jersey on an incomplete pass at the goal line. The Bengals had to settle for a field goal after that. How did that compare to the penalty at the end of the game that was called on Logan Wilson.

I think it was much more egregious, to be honest with you.

Of course, you know, I'm looking at it through different colored glasses than the Rams people are, But that I mean, you can see you can see Jersey tug you know.

I mean Logan Wilson's was it was.

Almost in my mind it was fabricated. I mean, he had his hands on him, but he wasn't grabbing anything, and he wasn't past the five yard area, you know when the penalty flag was thrown, And I mean I thought that the one that wasn't called on t should have been, and the one that was called on Logan

Keep your flags in your pocket.

It was seven three Rams at the end of the first quarter. Two minutes into the second, LA scored again, second down and five from the Cincinnati eleven, the Rams leading the Bengals seven to three. Here in the second quarter, Matthew Stafford, under center receiver, goes in motion. They fake a handof Stafford throwing into the end zone. Cooper Cup wide open in the back right corner. He makes the catch for a Rams touchdown. The Rams missed the pat due to a bobbled snow and led thirteen to three.

The Bengals toss it.

To the right.

Mixons throws into the back of the end zone and is caught by T. Higgins. Touchdown.

Bengals Joe Mixon floating one into the back right corner of the end zone and T.

Higgins hauls it in for the Bengals touchdown.

Talked about trickeration as one of the t keys Joe Mixon. Everybody starts downhill to fill the run. Sweet, they think it's gonna be a sweep. They don't need to look for t Higgins. By the time the recovery is made, it's way too late for Nick Scott, and Nick Scott says, oh my gosh, Mixon's gonna throw it right over his head for testaw great call by Zach Taylor on the trickeration.

Nixon was involved in seven of the twelve plays on that drive. Did Joe Mixon get the ball enough in the game?

Boy?

As a as a former offensive lineman, I wish that they had run him a little bit more, because man, he was up in the bit then. I remember we talked about it multiple times how hard he was finishing runs, you know, with the body lean and the violence, and

There was no more scoring in the first half as the Bengals came up with a takeaway just before the two minute warning. Lock running two twelve left and a half third down and fourteen empty backfield shotgun snap Stafford from the pocket, looking scrambling left, squares his shoulders, points deep, fires toward the end zone. In intercepted in the end zone. It is picked up by Jesse Bates and the Bengals. We'll get the ball at the twenty year to Fez. They intercept Matthew Stafford.

Van Jefferson was the intended receiver, and the Bengals rushed three and dropped eight into coverage and Stafford bought time, got out of pocket and he directed his receiver down the football field. Jesse Bates saw him being a traffic cop as well, and he played it perfectly. He ended up being the intended receiver. First turnover of the day goes to the Bengals defense.

Now, after the intert the Bengals would have had the ball at the twenty, but they got penalized ten yards because a player came off the bench and joined in the celebration, not a uniform, a guy wearing a Bengals hoodie. I think that might have been Vernon Hargraves, who is inactive for the game today and he just cost his team ten yards. If that's not Vernon Hargraves, I apologize, but that's who it looked like with a brief look at the video monitor.

Well it makes sense to Dan, he's the only defensive back that's deactivated.

Two years later. Are you ticked off, amused?

Or a combination of both?

More kicked off than the muse. Yeah, it's like, come on, bro, you know, I understand you're excited.

I understand.

Come on, man, you got to be smarter than that. I mean, the only the only thing that you can do on the sideline is something stupid like that to hurt your football team, and why why do it? Oh my gosh, yeah, that's a critical that's critical. Ten yards there too. I mean, you know, now, all of a sudden, eighty yards is tough enough. You got to go ninety against that defensive football team with a makeshift offensive line

It was thirteen to ten rams at the half as Doctor Dre Snoop Dog Eminem and others entertained. The seventy thousand plus in attendance, including a member of the Bengals.

Money Mack watched the whole halftime show. Money Mack's a big fan, and he came.

He watched.

I guess the darn near the whole thing. That's his that's right his demo, man, that's right in his groove.

Were you able to watch and enjoy the halftime show like Evan McPherson did.

Uh, I'll tell you damn until until you're there live. You know, halftime is long in the Super Bowl when you're watching them on TV. Well, when you're there live, Oh my goodness, that bad boy takes forever, doesn't it.

I mean it was.

It was incredible, the length of that uh length of that halftime show.

It was.

It was well done, There's no question about it. But Evn had a better seat than us. Man, he was right there.

I'll be honest, I barely saw the halftime show between running to the bathroom. Yeah, recapping the first half, trying to get your thoughts together for you know, broadcasting the second half as well as you possibly could. I was kind of aware of what artists were out there, but I didn't hear hardly any of it.

I didn't really hear it either all that well. But I saw what was going on.

And it was pretty you know, it's pretty uh, pretty high profile, no question about it. That was that was funny see him out there just soaking it all in. Man, it is classic. It was classic.

Before we get to the second half, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. The third quarter began with a bang. Joe Burrow under

Chuck Sick pushes over his defender, catches the ball, runt it into the end zone.

There's no, no, no, A seventy five yard touchdown. Burrow two.

Higgins as he knocked over Jane Ramsey ran it into the end zone to get the Bengals the lead.

Jalen Ramsey couldn't find the football and by the time he did, t Higgins found the ball coming side of him and Joe Burrow.

How about giving the Bengals lead a one play.

Dry It looked like t Higgins grabbed the face mats of Jalen Ramsey threw used it to throw him to the side.

It was not called, and the Bengals had the lead.

Should it have been offensive pass interference?

I'm glad that he kept his flag in his pocket because he didn't call defensive pass interference. So while the offensive passing appearance, I mean, if you're gonna do it, do it both ways.

You can make an argument that it could have been called in each instance.

And like I said, you know, championship games with the players decide the game. I'm sure the Rams fans are obviously to this day still fuming that that wasn't called.

But he deserved it.

Have to get and grab like that earlier, I think he deserved an opportunity to use his hands a little bit too.

The Bengals led seventeen to thirteen, and on the very next play got the ball right back Stafford in the shotgun. He's got acres to his left. Odell Beckham Junior is not back into the game. Stafford throws over the middle and it is intercepted.

It was deflected off Cooper Cup and it's picked off.

The Bengals will take over at the thirty two Chita.

Bay O Wooja on the deflection off Cooper Cup and the Bengals have the lead and the ball at the Rams thirty two.

They quickly drove to the twelve yard line before the Rams pass rush began to take over the game. Third down and four from the twelve of the Rams shotgun snap, Burrow cuts the arm and gets smashed to the ground. Burrow gets sacked back at the twenty yard line Aaron Donald with his second sack of this drive, and the Bengals will have to settle for the field goal try by Evan McPherson.

Boy, I'll tell you Joe's upset.

He had an opportunity there and he was like, you know, he did a good job holding onto the football.

I thought that ball was going to be problematic. A bull rush that time.

Agnegy just gets bowled by Aaron Donald and Joe Burrow passed it. When he cocked the football and brought it back down, it was over.

This will be a thirty eight yard field goal try from the middle of the field for Evan McPherson. Clark Harris will snap it back to Kevin Huber Hubert looking back at his kicker now turns his head, extends the right hand, catches the ball, puts it down.

McPherson's kick lofted and it is good.

Yes, he remains perfect in the postseason, and the Bengals have scored seventeen straight to take a twenty to thirteen leave. That was the last time the Bengals scored, and protecting Burrow was the problem. At one point. He was sacked four times in a span of six offensive snaps.

The first half, I thought the Bengals offensive line was very, very proficient and productive. But here in the second half, the Los Angeles Rams, they're.

More bull rushing.

In the first half, they were trying a lot of moves in here in the second half, they've decided a halftime let's just power rush and bull rush these guys, and it's working.

Five sacks for the Rams in this Super Bowl, second down and eleven, Burrow catches a shotgunsnap, looks to throw, force to scramble, sacked again as he goes down inside the five.

It's starting to get ugly.

The Bengals failed to score on their last five drives of the game, and Burrow got sacked a bunch. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris started rushing five to create more one on one opportunities for Aaron Donald, von Miller, et cetera. What stood out to you about the Rams pass rush in the second half in particular.

Yeah, I thought Raheem Morris might go to that five man rush a little sooner than he did. But it was effective definitely, because obviously there's only five offensive line and when you have five man pass rush, you know, you got everybody singled up. Now you can chiple the tight you know, you can double with the tight end, chip of the back and all those good things. You

Now, I guess a Rams field goal made it twenty to sixteen midway through the third quarter. The Bengals defense then forced three straight three and outs, but the offense kept giving the ball back to La and finally, with six thirteen to go, the Rams began their game winning drive. It reached a critical point right away. This could be the game. Five oh seven left and the Rams ready to go for it. On fourth and one at their

I bet that's that's one of them. Dan, I mean, uh man, I was just hoping he'd slip or something. I mean when they when they ran that play, that play, I honestly, it caught me with my pants down. You know, I wasn't thinking, you know, a jet sweep by Cooper up on fourth and one. Wasn't wasn't considering that whatsoever. Uh, you know, I run into the perimeter like that. I mean that that's running sideways for a good bit of

You know, kudos to them. That was a.

I think a play that lou An Rumo probably didn't think, Oh boy, yeah, this is this is this is it. This is what we have to This is what we have to take care of. This is one of the primary things. I bet it was down the list of things that he was considering that they'd run. It was just a good call by them and executed very well as well.

After that run, Cooper Cup caught four passes on the final drive. Stafford in the gun acres to his left shot gun snap. Stafford looking to throw inches up in the pocket. Oh, this pass caught over the metal Cooper Cup inside the thirty and he gets tackled at the Cincinnati twenty four yard Live the longest gain on the game winning drive was Matthew Stafford's no look pass to Cooper Cup to manipulate Von Bell, who is in the middle of the field on that play. We couldn't really

Absolutely?

You know, it wasn't the first time that he'd done it, done it many times in practice and had done it in games before, but to do it in the Super Bowl, it's gussie guts you to pull that bad boy off, you know. I mean you have to have you have to have total faith in your preparation and your repetitions and all of that sort of thing. And Patrick Maholmes

Was highlight for the La Rams in that football game.

No doubt coming out of the two minute warning. The Rams had it first in goal at the eight. Matthew Stafford threw an incomplete pass in the end zone, then through another where we mentioned something on the radio broadcast that wasn't shown or mentioned on TV. Stafford catches a shotgun snap, retreats to the seventeen short pass incomplete intended for Henderson covered by Jermaine Pratt.

Looks like Sean McVay is.

Arguing that he was held, but there's no penalty flag in its third and goal from the eight.

Yeah, McVeigh wanted a call on Jermaine Pratt going over the back, but no call, and really the.

Ball was thrown into the ground.

Jermaine Pratt did a nice job of leveraging the back out of the backfield.

The Bengals had two defenders around Cooper Cup. They're trying to eliminate him in the red zone on third and goal from the.

Eighth, particularly with no Beckham junior out there.

Cup one of three receivers out to the left, single receiver out to the right. Stafford, waiting for the shotgun snap from the eight yard line, catches a high snap, drops back to throw his pass off of the.

Medal swatted down by Logan Wilson.

There's a penalty flag down as he reached around Cooper Cup and swatted the pass down.

They're calling holding on Logan Wilson. Not interference, They're called they're calling holding.

Right of the past holding.

Take that snipper fifty five, no matter.

What's that?

Not not the yardage, but it's it's a new set of downs.

On the play before the Logan Wilson pass interference call, there was an incomplete pass to a Rams running back and we mentioned on the radio broadcast that Sean McVay was complaining to the officials that Jermaine Pratt should have been flagged. It wasn't mentioned on TV. They didn't show McVeigh on the sidelines. Al Michaels and Chris collins Worth didn't talk about.

It, but we did.

Do you think McVeigh planted a seed that led to the call on Wilson on the next play?

Absolutely, you know, I mean, referees a human and he probably you know, was debating if he saw it, and I think he did, if he you know, should I shouldn't I? And then when McVeigh went absolutely, you know, ballistic and getting after him about it. You know, human nature is. You know, I got to I got to make the restitution for that, the old makeup call kind of thing.

And man, that was a tough one.

Logan Wilson paid a big price for, you know, for McVeigh politicking as effectively as he did about his partner Jermaine Pratt not being not being called. I think I think that that did have an influence. So you know, he's thinking, all right, well, jeez, I was fifty to fifty on calling that one. I didn't fifty to fifty on this one, because, yeah, he talked himself into into a holding penalty.

I think he.

I think he basically talked himself and seeing something that Logan Wilson was doing with his hands that he really wasn't, you know. And it's like, man, that was a crusher going to call that thing in the end zone like that.

It was nuts.

Prior to that flag, each team had been penalized twice the entire game. On the next play, offsetting penalties were called, and on the play after that, Eli Apple was called for pass interference, giving the Rams first in goal at the one. Here's what Mike Hilton had to say after the game.

Vb's on both sides were grabbing and you know, a little pool here and there, and they were like, I said, way, We're fine with it throughout the first three quarters, but French time, you know, they got flag heavy and we just put us in BASD situation.

Zach Taylor took the high road.

It's tough.

I thought it was a really well officiated game, to be quite honest with you, and sometimes it comes down to the moments like those. I don't have a great look at it, but but I thought the officials did a nice show up.

In Super Bowl twenty three, it was Montana to Taylor with thirty four seconds to go. This time it was Stafford to Cup, second down in goal from the one. As the Rams look for a go ahead touchdown. Stafford is under center, takes the snap, floats a fade into the end zone, and it is caught for a touchdown to give the Rams the lead. Cooper Cup with the catch and the Rams have pulled ahead with one twenty

Burrow ready for the shotgun snap. He has the ball.

Burrow's quick pass chase with a catch, running away from Ramsey to the forty and he runs out of bounds to stop the clock at the forty two yard line. A seventeen yard play to begin this critical drive first and ten Bengals from their own forty two, they need to get about twenty more yards. Burrow back to throw against the blitz.

His bo caught at.

The fifty Tyler Boyd with the catch as the Bengals pick up a quick eight.

Tell you be one of those situations where the Rams are saying we left Joe Burrow.

Too much time, But that was not the case. On second and one, Burrow threw an incomplete deep ball for chase. On third and one, samajp Ryan was stopped by Aaron Donald for no gain, forcing the Bengals to call the time out. With forty three seconds to go, Burrow and the shotgun samajp Ryan to his right. Burrow ready for the shotgun snap on fourth of the yard long couch. Joe has the ball, drops back to throw, He gets hit,

Boy, the Rams.

They have the four down stop in the first quarter and a four down stop at.

The end of the football game.

They didn't have any true takeaways, no Fumber recoveries, no interceptions, but stopping the Bengals on downs twice. And who made the sack Aaron Donald. That's his third sack of the day.

Well, it's not a sack because he threw the ball.

Okay, Well, the pressure in the basically equivalent to that fourth down. Just throwing it out into space stops anything from happening. But he two quarterback sacks and then the biggest play of the game, precious Joe Burrow.

And spins him around like a top.

That's a big, big effort by Aaron Donald, and I think he has a shot to be MVP.

Agreed.

Cooper Cup will certainly be a candidate as well for his heroics on the final drive. As Aaron Donald ran toward the sideline, he pointed toward his ring finger. He is going to have a Super Bowl ring. On the Bengals final drive, Joe Mixon was not on the field and it was considered a big deal immediately after the game, but then the following season, Sama JP Ryan was fantastic, and I guess people stopped complaining about it. Looking back, now, what do you think.

I think that samajp Ryan was real effective as a blitz pick up, a chip guy. You know, past protection was a strength a forte of his and at that point in time, it wasn't one of Joe's. And Joe's worked on it diligently, and Joe's very effective now, I mean Joe's Joe's much more consistent and blitz pick up and helping offensive lineman with defensive lineman, pass rush and

I think that was part of the thinking on that.

As we all saw later on replay. On that final play, Jalen Ramsey slipped and Jamar Chase is wide open deep. But if you look at Joe Burrow, he was looking left on that play, not right, and he pump faked. It looked to me like his first read was T Higgins and c J Uzama's guy left. CJ double teamed T. That led to the the pump fake and then ultimately Aaron Donald was able to get to Joe Burrow. Is that how you saw it?

Yeah?

I did, Dan, And uh, you know it's like T had already hit him for that bomb. You know, he'd already hit him once deep. So they're thinking, you know, okay, we got to make sure that Raheemors made sure that he had some sort of an adjustment where his guy wasn't out there on an island to be overpowered.

By the by the size of the T. Higgins none. Only the size speed ratio is crazy.

But yeah, I mean it was just the luck of the luck of the play call and the matchup. You know, looking left initially and blindside, he gets such a great pass rush pump. They no chance to no chance to get anything else done. It's just that's life in the National Football League, man, it's it's sometimes defensive and offensive coordinators players lay awake at night and see on the screen all the times where they had poor technique or whatever,

Final score the Rams twenty three the Bengals twenty. Cooper Cup was named the MVP, but it easily could have been Donald as La tied a Super Bowl record by sacking Joe Burrow seven times. Here are Burrow and Zach Taylor after the game.

They have a really good front, you know, Aaron Donald von Miller and Leonard Floyd are you know, three of the best players in the league.

You know, you do.

We expected that they were going to get some pressure, so you know, they did a good job. They did a good job. You know, I was disappointing my performance overall. I thought I could have played better, give us a better chance to win. But you know, you live and you learn.

Every tape we've watched they hit every single quarterback, almost on every single snap, and so it's a challenge. I thought our guys a tremendous job early in the game managing that as the game gets on, you know, they did a good job creating that pressure. And so when we had some negative plays in first and ten, you know, running the ball in second thirteen is gonna be pretty tough.

It was a bitterly disappointing ending to an incredible season. Here's Sam Hubbard.

We made a lot of people happy, and you know, we came up short. But you know, I think people really, you know, enjoyed cheering for us this year, and you know the support that we felt I felt from them.

Was amazing, And all I want to do is just keep.

Playing hard for them and take that next step as you watch that rams colored confetti low to the ground. Did it take you right back to Super Bowl sixteen?

Bingo?

Did it?

It did? And and you know it's funny. Dan.

The first thing, you know, like that experience and other experiences, and to this day when I think about Super Bowl sixteen, I think about it quite often. The first thing you think about when you when you lose a football game like that is the mistakes. You know, win a football game, the mistakes go away. Lose a football game, mistakes magnify. The bigger the game, the more it holds true. Make plays, avoid mistakes. That's the that's the bottom line.

There was a big party after the game at poly Pavilion, where U.

C l a.

Basketball plays. Nelly performed Joe Burrow's favorite rapper, kid Cut. He performed Is there a party of any sort after Super Bowl sixteen when you played the forty nine ers.

I'd call it a gathering. It was not a It was not like a party atmosphere. It was like and I didn't even want to go, and Lyn's like, we got to go, come on, you, you got to go.

Like I don't know.

I'm not in any mood to, but it was it was very Uh. I'd say solemn is a good way to put it. You know, nobody was, uh. But as the evening war on a little bit, and I didn't stay there long as the hour war on, I think

It's unbelievable.

The next time we do one of these detailed Super Bowl recaps, it's going to be after the Bengals first win.

Love it, my man, love it.

And you know, Dan's let's face it, the Bengals are still right there. They played both Super Bowl participants on the road and beat the forty nine ers by two scores and lost by eight points to Kansas City with you know, with their backup quarterback and had very multiple chances to win that football game. Jake Browning, you know, competed exceptionally. Well, they're right there with anybody. I mean,

Man.

Super Bowl fifty six did not result in a victory parade in Cincinnati, but it did electrify the fan base. For the last word, here's Mike Brown.

This is a wonderful moment for me. What our goal is beyond winning on the field. That's how you get to the next goal, which is to excite the city and get our supporters feeling happy about how it's going, enjoying it, getting involved in the ways they do that for me is a real treat. I am enjoying that part of it as much as anything.

And that's going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider. By Alta Fiber, future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is